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{{XBMC faq toc Inline}}
{{mininav| [[Development]] {{l2| [[Linux]] }} }}
You should read the [[Development Notes]] before reading this page.


[[Team-XBMC]] began [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porting porting] XBMC Media Center software to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux Linux] in 2007.
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<section begin="intro" />Team Kodi (formerly called Team-XBMC) first ported XBMC Media Center software to Linux in 2007, and the whole project cross-platform application was renamed to Kodi in 2014. Kodi itself is a huge open source project and it takes loads of people working together to maintain it for all platforms, that is why Team-Kodi is always on the lookout for C/C++ programmers to volunteer in assisting us with the development of Kodi. Whether you have contributed to the Kodi/XBMC project in the past or not, please consider doing so now.<section end="intro" />


The Linux version of XBMC utilises [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL OpenGL] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_DirectMedia_Layer SDL toolkit] with support for VDPAU and VAAPI now also stable.


XBMC is a huge open source project and it takes loads of people working together to maintain it for all platforms, that is why [[Team-XBMC]] is always on the lookout for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language C/C++ programmers] to volunteer in assisting us with the development of XBMC. Whether you have contributed to [http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc The XBMC Project] in the past or not, please consider doing so now.
== End-users (non-programmers) ==
You can help too by downloading Kodi for Linux, testing it, and [[HOW-TO:Submit_a_bug_report|reporting bugs and issues]]. Also, spread the word about Kodi for Linux(and other platforms) to your friends and family, we are sure they will enjoy it too.


:'''Note to XBMC end-users!''' You can help too by [http://xbmc.org/download downloading XBMC for Linux], testing it, and [[HOW-TO Submit a Proper Bug Report|reporting bugs and issues]]. Also, spread the word about [http://xbmc.org/download XBMC for Linux] to your friends and family; we are sure they will enjoy it too. XBMC is free and does not contain any spyware or adware.
== Developers (programmers) ==
You should be proficient in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language C/C++ programming language], and although not really required knowledge of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL OpenGL] or other [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia multimedia] programming is a plus, as well as prior [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-platform cross-platform] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porting porting] development experience.


Those of you who are completely unfamiliar with XBMC can get a good overview of the features and functions that XBMC offers for its [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user end-users] by reading through the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBMC XBMC article on wikipedia.org]
== Where do I start on Linux? ==
General and distribution specific guides on HOW-TO compile Kodi for Linux from source code is available in this whis, and there is also an up-to-date README for Ubuntu Linux available in the [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc XBMC Foundation git repo on GitHub].


== What is XBMC and why was it ported to Linux? ==
The recommended '''Linux development platform''' is currently [[Compiling_Kodi|32-bit Ubuntu Desktop (for x86)]]. The code can be obtained by cloning the xbmc [http://git-scm.com/ git] repository hosted on [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc Github]. First use your package manager to install git on your system and then execute the following command to clone your own repository: <br />
For developers who do not know this, '''XBMC Media Center''' (formerly named "XBox Media Center", not to be confused with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Center_Extender Microsoft's Windows Media Center Extender for the Xbox]) is an award-winning free and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source open source] media player, originally designed to run on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox Xbox game-console]. The GPL/LGPL licensed source code basically consist of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_framework GUI framework] that has been written from scratch by [[Team-XBMC]], this GUI acts as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front-end front-end control interface] for several audio/video players designed for specific purposes (and those are loaded when needed as DLLs), the GUI is also the user interface to all of [[XBMC Features and Supported Formats/Codecs|XBMC multimedia handling functions such as databases and sorting, etc.]]. [http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc The XBMC Project], (who's members maintain XBMC source code), is a non-profit open source hobby project that is developed by volunteers in their spare-time without any monetary gain. The team of developers working on XBMC have always encouraged anyone to submit their own source code patches for new [[XBMC Features and Supported Formats/Codecs|features or functions]], improve on existing ones, or fix bugs.
 
= Skill requirements and where to start =
Proficiency in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language C/C++ programming language] and, though not required, knowledge of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL OpenGL] and/or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia multimedia] programming is a plus, as well as prior [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-platform cross-platform] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porting porting] development experience.
 
== Where do I start on Linux? ==
The recommended '''Linux development platform''' is currently [[HOW-TO compile XBMC for Linux from source code|32-bit Ubuntu Desktop (for x86)]]. The code can be obtained by cloning the xbmc [http://git-scm.com/ git] repository hosted on [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc Github]. First use your package manager to install git on your system and then execute the following command to clone your own repository: <br />
<br /><code>
<br /><code>
git clone git://github.com/xbmc/xbmc.git
git clone git://github.com/xbmc/xbmc.git
</code><br />
</code><br />
<br />
<br />
After the clone has completed, follow the compilation/development guide in the new repository ([[HOW-TO compile XBMC for Linux from source code|README.linux]]) to setup the required packages and so on. Team-XBMC developers opinion is that the best thing to start with is just to take a look through the source code and try to understand how it all fits together. Test things out, find what works and what does not, then try and track down why.
After the clone has completed, follow the compilation/development guide in the new repository ([[Compiling_Kodi|README.linux]]) to setup the required packages and so on. Team-XBMC developers opinion is that the best thing to start with is just to take a look through the source code and try to understand how it all fits together. Test things out, find what works and what does not, then try and track down why.


Alternatively, you can download a finished VMware Virtual Machine (VM) and run that in the free [http://www.vmware.com/products/free_virtualization.html VMware Player] (or use in VMware Workstation, or VMware Server), this is a little bit old now but can still be useful to those of you that are absolutely new to developing on Linux. The VM available for download below is based on [[HOW-TO compile XBMC for Linux from source code|Ubuntu Desktop (32-bit for x86)]], and all the prerequisite software is installed (including KDevelop). Performance is not great using this, as there is no 3D hardware acceleration support under a virtual machine, however it should work good enough to get a lot of development tasks done without you having to bother with install of Ubuntu Desktop yourself. Nice is also that you can install/run [http://www.vmware.com/products/free_virtualization.html VMware Player 2.0 and later] under Linux as well as Microsoft Windows (including Windows Vista), 32-bit and 64-bit operating-system. The free [http://www.vmware.com/products/free_virtualization.html VMware Player 2.0 and later] also enables you to share data seamlessly between the virtual machine and host computer, and also allows you to directly access USB 2.0 devices from within the virtual machine. (Experimental support for 2-way Virtual SMP to assign more than a single CPU to a virtual machine is also available for testing purposes).
Alternatively, you can [https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads download VirtualBox] and follow this guide to install the required software: [[Compiling_Kodi|Ubuntu Desktop (32-bit for x86)]]. Besides from KDevelop, additional development tools that can be useful include Subcommander, Doxygen, Sysprof and PowerTop.


:* Download: [http://www.aceshome.com/xbmcdev.zip VMware Virtual Machine (VM) with Ubuntu Desktop 7.04 and KDevelop] (userid/password is: xbmc/xbmc).
The performance of a virtual machine is not great, as there is no 3D hardware acceleration support under a virtual machine, however it should work good enough to get a lot of development tasks done. Nice is also that you can install/run [https://www.virtualbox.org/ VirtualBox] on Windows, OS X and Linux. The free VirtualBox also enables you to share data seamlessly between the virtual machine and host computer, and also allows you to directly access USB 2.0 devices from within the virtual machine. To improve the performance of your virtual machine, you can increase the number of cores on a multi-core system that is assigned to your virtual machine.
:** Besides from KDevelop, additional development tools included are Subcommander, Doxygen, Sysprof, and PowerTop.
:*** Note! In order for the PowerTop tool to actually show data, a new kernel needs to be built by yourself.  
:** Our thanks goes out to [http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=26664 tssgery] for creating and hosting this first VM for the XBMC Linux port development effort.


=== Hardware requirements ===
=== Hardware requirements ===
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86 x86-based computer]. No other special hardware is required for development, as developers can compile using the "''make sdl_2d option''" (see [[HOW-TO compile XBMC for Linux from source code|README.linux]]). However for end-users the recommended minimum requirement is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Processing_Unit 3D GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)] that at least supports [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shader_model Shader Model 3.0] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL OpenGL 2.0] (that features 24bpp or 32bpp for 3D hardware-acceleration support, which the XBMC GUI needs to run smoothly at an acceptable frame-rate). Graphic adapters that support [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX DirectX version 9.0c] or later usually meet all of those mentioned requirements, ([[Team-XBMC]] recommends [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later] as NVIDIA is currently the manufacturer that offers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_hardware_and_FOSS good device-drivers for Linux] (and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later] supports OpenGL 2.0).
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86 x86-based computer] (if you don't know what it means, you probably have one). No special hardware is required for development, as developers can compile using the "''make sdl_2d option''" (see [[Compiling_Kodi|README.linux]]). However for end-users the recommended minimum requirement is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Processing_Unit 3D GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)] that at least supports [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shader_model Shader Model 3.0] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL OpenGL 2.0] (that features 24bpp or 32bpp for 3D hardware-acceleration support, which the XBMC GUI needs to run smoothly at an acceptable frame-rate). Graphic adapters that support [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX DirectX version 9.0c] or later usually meet all of those mentioned requirements, (Team Kodi recommends [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later] as NVIDIA is currently the manufacturer that offers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_hardware_and_FOSS good device-drivers for Linux] (and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later] supports OpenGL 2.0).
 
== XBMC Linux port FAQ for developers ==
=== Can non-Linux developers also help? ===
XBMC can also be compiled for many other operating systems, and you can read more information about that [[XBMC development|here]].


=== Why is OpenGL 2.0 needed for XBMC? ===
OpenGL 2.0 is not really the current minimum requirement to run XBMC for Linux, as in reality XBMC will today run with only OpenGL 1.3 + [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLSL GLSL] support. Everything else has fall-backs to be run in software on the CPU (which is slower than GPU hardware, though). However, in order to stay future-proof, Team-XBMC has decided that the OpenGL 2.0 is the recommended minimum requirement.


:'''Currently OpenGL 2.0 hardware is only needed for:'''
* Any deinterlacing that is not linear blending (which FFmpeg does in software)
* Video [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_post-processing video post-processing filtering] (bicubic upscaling, etc.)
* Non-power of two textures for the GUI (using NPOT saves a lot of texture memory)
* Hardware accelerated YUV 2 RGB conversion (actually GLSL is needed for this, and a few GPU hardware implementations as low as OpenGL 1.3 does provide GLSL as an extension. OpenGL 2.0 guarantees availability of GLSL).
:'''In the future OpenGL 2.0 might also be needed for:'''
* More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_post-processing video post-processing filters] to improve visual quality perception.
* [[Hardware Accelerated Video Decoding]] (using the GPU hardware to assist with video decoding)


[[Category:Development]]
[[Category:Development]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:XBMC Live]]

Latest revision as of 20:22, 7 December 2020

Home icon grey.png   ▶ Development
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▶ Linux development
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Development:

Team Kodi (formerly called Team-XBMC) first ported XBMC Media Center software to Linux in 2007, and the whole project cross-platform application was renamed to Kodi in 2014. Kodi itself is a huge open source project and it takes loads of people working together to maintain it for all platforms, that is why Team-Kodi is always on the lookout for C/C++ programmers to volunteer in assisting us with the development of Kodi. Whether you have contributed to the Kodi/XBMC project in the past or not, please consider doing so now.


End-users (non-programmers)

You can help too by downloading Kodi for Linux, testing it, and reporting bugs and issues. Also, spread the word about Kodi for Linux(and other platforms) to your friends and family, we are sure they will enjoy it too.

Developers (programmers)

You should be proficient in C/C++ programming language, and although not really required knowledge of OpenGL or other multimedia programming is a plus, as well as prior cross-platform or porting development experience.

Where do I start on Linux?

General and distribution specific guides on HOW-TO compile Kodi for Linux from source code is available in this whis, and there is also an up-to-date README for Ubuntu Linux available in the XBMC Foundation git repo on GitHub.

The recommended Linux development platform is currently 32-bit Ubuntu Desktop (for x86). The code can be obtained by cloning the xbmc git repository hosted on Github. First use your package manager to install git on your system and then execute the following command to clone your own repository:

git clone git://github.com/xbmc/xbmc.git

After the clone has completed, follow the compilation/development guide in the new repository (README.linux) to setup the required packages and so on. Team-XBMC developers opinion is that the best thing to start with is just to take a look through the source code and try to understand how it all fits together. Test things out, find what works and what does not, then try and track down why.

Alternatively, you can download VirtualBox and follow this guide to install the required software: Ubuntu Desktop (32-bit for x86). Besides from KDevelop, additional development tools that can be useful include Subcommander, Doxygen, Sysprof and PowerTop.

The performance of a virtual machine is not great, as there is no 3D hardware acceleration support under a virtual machine, however it should work good enough to get a lot of development tasks done. Nice is also that you can install/run VirtualBox on Windows, OS X and Linux. The free VirtualBox also enables you to share data seamlessly between the virtual machine and host computer, and also allows you to directly access USB 2.0 devices from within the virtual machine. To improve the performance of your virtual machine, you can increase the number of cores on a multi-core system that is assigned to your virtual machine.

Hardware requirements